With Laughter, Comes Trouble
by RunningWithNemo
Summary: When Carlisle meets Esme, he wasn't looking for love - but now with him falling deeper and deeper, how does he tell his daughter without her freaking out? Does one follow their heart or stick with family? Cannon Pairings, AU, AH
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Well, I'm re-working this story - sorry I took it down, I had problems getting back into it after I lost all my information on my computer (it died), but one of my friends started reading what I had and convinced me to start it back up again and finish it! Thanks girlie! You know who you are! It has also been bothering me in parts, but I really could use feedback - not quite to where I want it quite yet, but any and all help on this would been loved! 3

-Nemo

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Chapter 1 - With Laughter, Comes Trouble

_Carlisle's POV_

Working full time, while being a single parent was definitely a challenge and a day didn't go by that I didn't miss my wife, Elizabeth. She had passed away six years previous, in a tragic hit and run, caused by a drunk driving accident. Our youngest, Melissa, who was 12, looked just like her mother did when she was that age. Beautiful and elegant. The twins, Edward, Jasper, who were 17, and Emmett, 20, were a huge help with taking care of their sister. I always found myself thinking of Elizabeth on my drive home from the hospital, where I worked as Chief of Staff. As I drove up the drive, I noticed that Edward's Volvo and Jasper's Ford Pickup were in the driveway. I smiled before parking and headed inside, carefully opening the door, trying to sneak in. But before I knew it, I was being playfully attacked by Melissa, as she threw herself at me.

"Daddy! Daddy! You're home! You're home!"

I chucked softly, and wrapped my arms around her as she held me tightly, as if I had been gone for longer than a normal workday.

"Yes, dear one. I'm home."

I looked up, and saw my sons, Jasper and Edward standing in the doorway to the living room, laughing softly, just watching.

"How was your day, Jasper?"

"Oh, it was great, Pops. But you may want to talk to this little one here about actually doing her school work."

Melissa turned to look at her older brother.

"Jassy! I'm not little! I'm 12!"

Edward, who had been trying not to laugh, lost it, and started laughing, and Melissa turned on him next.

"Eddie… Are you laughing… at me…?"

Edward did his best to stop laughing, but failed. I turned to look down at my daughter, who was still holding me tightly around the middle.

"Darling, your brother is not laughing at you. I do believe he is laughing at Jasper."

She squeezed me even tighter, making me chuckle softly.

"Missa, I'm not going anywhere…"

She let me go, looking down, embarrassed.

"Sorry, daddy. I just really, really, really missed you!"

I knelt, gently raising her face to look at me, pulling her into my arms.

"Melissa, I'm not mad, I missed you all as well. Has Emmett called to let us know when he's due home?"

"Yes! He called. He did call!"

She grinned happily, glad to have her oldest brother, who was off at college in Seattle, come home as she missed him terribly.

"Oh! I have to clean my room!"

She squirmed out of my arms and ran up the stairs to her bedroom, Jasper and Edward looking after her, smiling softly before they turned back to me.

"He said he'd be home sometime tomorrow, dad. But there is a possibility that he can get away tonight and he'll be here late. Mae is sure that she needs to pick up her room but we all know that her room is the tidiest of all of ours."

I nodded softly, standing up, and heading into the kitchen to grab myself something to drink; the boys following me, settling down at the bar. Jasper spoke up quietly.

"So, Pops, how are things going with Esme?"

Esme was the woman that I had been seeing for a few weeks now. She had come in with her youngest daughter, Isabella, after she fell down and hurt herself, and needed care. I was the doctor on call the day that she was brought in, and it felt like love at first sight. After running into her later, the next day, I took it as fate and took a chance and gave her my number. I guess you could say we were dating... although neither of us had totally made it official yet. To me it was, and I had a feeling that other than the love that I had for my late wife, I know that I could find that same love for the woman who had taken over most of my thoughts, well, she was up there competing with the four children who I loved dearly. I turned around, a glass of water in my hand, taking a sip before responding.

"Well, things are going as good as expected. I told her about your mother." I sighed. "We both agreed to take things slowly. She has had some hardships herself, and she doesn't want to pressure her kids into anything they don't feel comfortable with."

Jasper looked up as I mentioned Esme's children.

"She has children?"

"Yeah, she has triplets - Rosalie, Alice and Isabella."

Edward was the one to speak up this time.

"How old are they?"

"They're 17."

They both looked at each other, smiling slightly. I wondered what that was all about. Edward raised his eyebrows, still looking at his brother before looking at me, changing the subject.

"Have you figured out how to introduce her to Mae with out our 'little one' having a panic attack?"

I sighed, leaning against the counter.

"No, I haven't yet. I am not sure how to get around that, but when I try bringing it up, she just runs out of the room, and refuses to talk to me. I don't know what to do."

I took another sip of water, and looked at my sons for help.

"What about if you just introduce Esme to Mae as a friend, and then work on getting her used to having her be around and go from there?"

"Oh, Ed, that may work. Do you think it would be alright if I invited her to supper tomorrow?"

"Sure, Pops, that will be fine. I'm sure that Emmett won't mind at all. More people for him to _'entertain.'_"

I laughed as Jasper joked about my eldest son's child-like manner, always joking.

"I'll give her a call now."

I stood up, grabbing my cell phone out of my jacket pocket and heading out into the hallway to go outside to make my call. I turned around in the doorway, giving the boys a smile.

"Thank you, you two, for doing your best to help with this. I know this may be hard for you to accept, but I do feel like this is the right step for me."

"Oh, Pops, all we want is for you to be happy. Isn't that right, little brother?"

Edward nodded, rolling his eyes at his twin – Jasper was the older one, and he never seemed to let Edward forget it.

"Of course, Dad. Your happiness is important."

I smiled and headed out onto the back deck and dialed Esme's number. She picked up after a couple rings.

"Carlisle! What a surprise! I wasn't expecting your call until later."

"Hello, Dear. I couldn't wait till later. I had to hear your voice now. Plus, I had to ask you a question."

She laughed gently and I had to sit down. She really had no idea the effect that she had on me. Every little thing about her made my head spin.

"What was the question that couldn't wait until later to ask me?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to come over tomorrow for dinner. You could bring your girls if you wanted to."

I heard her moving around, and I assumed she was looking through a planner.

"I am working till around five or so, but I should be available after that. I'll have to ask my girls if they want to come over. Have you had a chance to talk to your daughter yet?"

I sighed softly, rubbing my face with my free hand.

"No, I haven't yet. Edward, my youngest boy, brought up something that I am willing to try if you are. But it may set us back a bit."

"What is it, Carlisle dear?"

"He suggested that we just act as friends and see how she accepts you and work our way up, working on getting her to get used to you and to like you and all that…"

I trailed off, not sure what she'd think about it. I didn't want her to feel as if I was trying to hide our relationship in a closet. It was completely up to her, I just didn't want to overstep my boundaries.

"I'd be willing to try if you're sure she'd be comfortable."

"Great! So, how was your day, dear?" I tried to switch the topic subtly, but it only came out as if I had rushed it. It would have to do, though. But if she picked up on my need to change the topic, she didn't let on.

"Oh, great. I finished what I needed to get done for the project that I was working on, which I'm quite happy about."

"Oh, that's great, dear! I'm happy!"

All of a sudden the door burst open, and I jumped.

"Daddy-o! I found ya!"

"Who's that, Carlisle?"

I laughed softly.

"Just my eldest son, Emmett, who apparently is in cahoots with my other children and got home earlier than I was told he'd be home. They told me that he'd be home tomorrow. Apparently he wanted to surprise me. Wouldn't surprise me though as this wouldn't be the first time that he's pulled something like this. I probably should get going. See you tomorrow!"

"Alright, Carlisle, I'll see you tomorrow. I'll get back to you to tell you if my girls will be coming with. Love you."

I smiled softly and murmured my response.

"Alright. Bye for now."

I hung up with a smile and turned to look up at Emmett.

"Who was that, Daddy-o? Was that your new lady friend that my dearest brothers have told me about?"

I ignored him, knowing I would not have that long before he would find a way to get me to talk to him.

"What are you doing here, Em?"

"Well, I got home earlier, and hid the car in the garage, because I knew you wouldn't go in there as that's _my_ place to park."

He laughed graciously to himself before continuing.

"Then, I came in and told Mae, Ed and Jay to tell you that I'd be back either later tonight or tomorrow to get you off thinking I'd be here earlier. I went up to my room to wait for you to get home. Then I snuck out and here I am now! Now that you know how I came about standing on this deck with you, who was that on the phone! Tell me now… please?"

He gave me his usual puppy dog look that basically told me that if I didn't give in, he'd resort to pleading with me. I just looked at him, pretending I didn't hear the last part of his question.

"Oh, you silly silly boy. But I am glad to see you. Come and give your father a hug."

He just stood there and looked at me.

"Daddy-o! Tell me! Pleeease? Please tell me who it was…. I wanna know! I wannnnnaaaa know! Plllleeeease?"

His 'whining' had brought his brothers out, and they were in hysterics.

"Pops, you probably should tell him. He'll need to know before tomorrow anyways."

I looked over at Jasper, nodding softly. Emmett looked between his brothers and myself.

"Dad! They know and I don't? Come on! Totally not fair!"

Before I could react, he had grabbed the phone from my hands. I just looked at him, and shook my head. He looked at me with a shocked expression on his face.

"Dad… Who's Esme?"


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Note: So here y'all go! Chapter 2. It has not recently been beta'd (but it was looked over originally). Let me know what you all think! I'll work on going over Chapter 3 as soon as I can - I am going on holiday with my family this weekend and won't be bringing my computer with me, so it may be a bit of a wait for Chapter 3, that is if I don't get around to it before we leave tomorrow afternoon. :)

Enjoy!

-Nemo

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Chapter 2 - With Laughter Comes Trouble EPOV

_Edward POV_

Dad stood up, grabbed his cell phone out of his jacket pocket and headed out into the hallway to make his call in privacy. He turned around in the doorway, giving us a smile.

"Thank you, you two, for doing your best to help with this. I know this may be hard for you to accept, but I do feel like this is the right step for me."

"Oh, Pops, all we want is for you to be happy. Isn't that right, little brother?"

Jasper looked at me, and I nodded, after rolling my eyes at him.

"Of course, Dad. Your happiness is important."

He walked out onto the back deck and I turned to my brother.

"He _does_ seem to be happier, I just know that Mae isn't going to be happy if she does find out that he's seeing her as more than just a friend."

Jasper nodded in agreement.

"I do agree, Ed. Which is why we must do all that we can do to keep her from finding out. That could be disastrous."

"Em is going to be a problem, I can already see that. The big oaf isn't able to keep his mouth shut even if it does mean protecting Melissa. We have to tell him that she's not to know that they're together until later, and make him swear not to mention anything about it till dad feels it's time to tell her. I don't even want to know what she'd do if she found out."

Nodding slightly, I noticed some movement coming down the stairs and I looked over. I saw my eldest brother walking down the stairs and out onto the back deck. I knew that we were bound for trouble, having learned the hard way on multiple accounts that wherever my eldest brother went, trouble followed. Not always bad trouble, but trouble none the less. Jasper, having noticing that my attention had been distracted, followed my gaze and shook his head.

"You are aware that he's going to give Pops a heart attack if we don't find some way to get him to not sneak up on him, don't ya?"

I nodded, trying not to laugh and hoping that our father would forgive us for the little white lie that we had told earlier. I got off of the bar stool and silently followed Emmett, reaching out to stop him from going outside right as he reached the door leading to the back deck. He jumped as I grabbed him, around the middle, holding him back.

"Eddie, how many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?"

"How many times have I told you _not_ to call me Eddie…?"

"Um, not really sure… answer my question…. Eddie," he said it again just to get on my nerves. I rolled my eyes at his crazy idiosyncrasies.

"Why should I listen to you if you insist on listening to me when I tell you not to call me Eddie. You know I hate that name."

"Then why do you let Mae call you that?"

"Because… she's Mae, and not you. That's why."

"Oh, that hurts, little brother… that hurts me deep."

"My name is Edward and not Eddie. 'Cept when Mae calls me that. Anyway, you'll have to tell me a good 100 more times before I learn that I shouldn't sneak up on you. Besides, where is the fun if I can't find ways to scare you every so often? You've scared me more than enough times to give the rights to scare you every now and then."

Emmett gave me a huge bear-like hug.

"Oh, how I've missed you, Eddie…"

I glared at him, shooting eye-bullets in his direction.

"Emmie… you are HOPELESS!"

He just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Been told that a time or two, does that stop me?… No_**p**_e!"

With that, he walked out and called out loudly.

"Daddy-o! I found ya!"

I shook my head as I saw our father jump, before turning to look at Emmett, and answering a question that Esme had apparently asked him.

"Just my eldest son, Emmett, who apparently is in cahoots with my other children and got home earlier. They told me that he'd be home tomorrow. Apparently he wanted to surprise me. Wouldn't surprise me, knowing him as I do. I probably should get going. See you tomorrow!"

I saw him smile softly to her response, and heard him murmur his closing remarks.

"I love you too, my sweet darling."

He hung up with a smile and turned to look up at Emmett.

"What are you doing here, Em?"

"Well, I got home earlier, and hid the car in the garage, because I knew you wouldn't go in there as that's _my_ place to park."

He laughed softly to himself before continuing.

"Then, I came in and told Mae, Ed and Jay to tell you that I'd be back either later tonight or tomorrow to get you off thinking I'd be here earlier. I went up to my room to wait for you to get home. Then I snuck out and here I am now! Now that you know how I came about standing on this deck with you, who was that on the phone? Tell me now… please?"

He gave our dad his usual puppy dog look that basically told me that if dad didn't give in, he'd resort to pleading with the poor man who called himself our father. I just looked at both of them, waiting to see what our father decided to do in response to Emmett's obviousness that he wanted to know more, and know it _now_. He was like a little child on Christmas morning when it came to these things.

"Oh, you silly, silly boy. But I am glad to see you. Come and give your father a hug."

Emmett just stood there and looked at him.

"Daddy-o! Tell me! Pleeease? Please tell me who it was…. I wanna know! I wannnnnaaaa know! Plllleeeease?"

His whining caused both of us to start laughing. He was just as bad as our little sister when he wanted to be. Jasper managed to stop laughing enough to get a few words out.

"Pops, you probably should tell him. He'll need to know before tomorrow anyway."

I looked over at Jasper, nodding softly, agreeing with him. Emmett looked between dad, Jasper and myself.

"Dad! They know and I don't? Come on! Totally not fair!"

Before Dad could react, he had grabbed the phone from his hands. Dad just looked at him, and shook his head. Emmett looked at him with a shocked expression on his face.

"Dad… Who's Esme?"

"Uh… Esme… she's … ummm Esme?"

"Yeah, Dad, I gathered that much. Like, who is she? Like, how do you know her? Who is she to you?"

Dad rubbed his face with his right shirtsleeve, sitting back down and sighing, motioning for Emmett to join him.

"I guess I should tell you, but you _will not and may not _tell your sister under any circumstances. She is not to know."

Emmett nodded as he sat down, knowing of our sister's state after our mom's death. Of all of us, it seemed to hit her hardest and she was having the hardest time coming to terms with the fact that Dad wanted to see other women. From what Mae had told me, Mae was afraid that our dad was trying to forget our mother and she didn't want to forget her. When dad spoke up next, he was talking in a near whisper, in case Mae came down.

"I met Esme a few months ago at a banquet that the hospital was putting on and we've been seeing each other off and on since then. We both feel the same way, but don't want to rush into anything, but the fact that we're actually together is actually a pretty recent thing in the grand scheme of everything. But even so, I'm afraid that we may be going too fast for Melissa, who has yet to meet her. I'm actually having her come over tomorrow night for dinner, and I told her that it will be just as friends. I am hoping that Melissa can understand."

Emmett nodded.

"So, you want to be more than just friends with her, daddy-o? Is that what I'm getting?"

Dad laughed softly.

"Leave it to you to put it like that, but yes, I would. I've not felt like this about another woman since your mother. I feel like Esme is _The One_."

Jasper sat down on Dad's other side, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"Then with time, I know that Mae will understand. That's all we can hope for."

Feeling left out, I walked over and sat down on his lap. Dad laughed and tried to wrap his arms around me, like he used to when I was younger.

"Son, I don't think that you fit on my lap anymore, but better you than Emmie Bear over here."

He patted Emmett on the shoulder as the latter groaned.

"Daaad! Not that name! Anything but that name!"

Suddenly we heard a squeal from inside the house and Melissa came running down from her room.

"Emmieeee!"

He stood up, scooping her into his arms and spinning her around.

"Oh, my Missy Bear! How've I've missed you!"

"I've missed you too, my Emmie Bear!"

He looked over at our father.

"Dad, look what you've started."

"I only call you it, because she does son."

Melissa poked Emmett's cheek.

"But, Emmie, it's a cuuute name! And I love it! As I love you!"

He laughed and carried her inside to look at something he brought home with him for her. I looked over at dad, and he nodded. It was going to be tough to hide his relationship with Esme from Melissa, that was the one who it was impossible for us to hide anything from.

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So there you have it, chapter 2 - can you please let me know what you think? Reviews make me smile. :)


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